266 Essays. 
(8.) Of plants and vegetable substances used as ornament, &c., the 
following are the principal:—For dyes, the bark of the hinau and of the 
pokaka (Eleocarpus dentatus and hookerianus), and also of the makomako 
(Aristotelia racemosa), were used for black ; and the bark of the tanekaha 
or toatoa (Phyllocladus trichomanoides) for red. Oil, for anointing, was 
expressed from the beaten seeds of the titoki or titongi (Alectryon excelsum), 
and also from the seeds of the kohia (Passiflora tetrandra). A gum-resin, 
used to perfume their oil, was obtained from the kohuhu and the tarata 
(Pittosporum tenuifolium and P. eugenioides), {and also from the taramea 
(Aciphylla colensoi), which last was very highly prized. The strong smelling 
ferns, Hymenophyllum villosum, Doodia media, and Polypodium pustulatum, 
were also used for the same purpose of perfuming and for scenting oil; 
and so were a few fragrant mosses and Hepatice, called kopura—especially 
Lophocolea nove-zealandi@ and allodonta. The aromatic leaves of the 
raukawa, a very scarce, small tree, sparsely growing in the high dense 
forests (Panax edgerleyi), were also sought for a similar purpose, par- 
ticularly to rub their limbs and bodies. The daisy-like flowers of the roniu 
(Brachycome odorata), and the flowering tops of the sweet-scented grass 
karetu (Hierochlie redolens), were worn round the neck, enclosed in fibrous 
leaves, as a scented necklace. Elegant female head-dresses were formed of 
flowering wreaths of various species of Clematis (particularly heaasepala and 
colensoi), and of the graceful waewaekoukou (Lycopodium volubile). Some- 
times the snow-white downy fibres from the under side of the leaves of the 
kowharawhara, and the kahakaha (Astelia cunninghamii and solandri), and 
the thin transparent epidermis from the leaves of the mountain tikumu 
(Celmisia coriacea), were also used by females to ornament their hair and 
head. The fresh gum-resin from the kauri (Dammara australis) was com- 
monly chewed as a masticatory,* so also was that obtained from the 
tawhiwhi or kohuhu (Pittosporum tenuifolium), mixed with the inspissated 
juice of the puwha or sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus), ingeniously collected. 
Combs were made of mapara and kapara, the hard dark woody tissue or heart- 
wood of rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum), which was assiduously sought for in 
the forest among old prostrate rotting rimu trees; they were also carved out 
* This chewing of the fresh gum resin of the kauri pine by the New Zealanders explains 
the error made by Forster (from Crozet, Voyage de M. Marion), who had name 
mangrove d officinalis) A. resinifera, believing that the dm chewed by the 
natives had been obtained from that tree! Forster says, “ Gummi ex hac arbore exsudans forte 
ideni est, quo ines Nove Zelandie homines vescuntur, ut patet e diaris navarchi gallici 
Crozet.” This error has been since repeatedly printed ; and, strange to say, more recently by 
Lindley sere even improves upon it) in his noble Vegetable Kingdom, where (p. 665), 
speaking of mánpnobe, he. anya dion exu MBA. 6 Badio quat vi tic resin, which 
b ew Zealand." (!) 
